Shopping online for a television can be daunting in its own right, since you can't physically see the TV; this makes it difficult to visualize it in your space and hard to know what the picture and audio quality is like. But sometimes, shopping in-store is difficult or impossible; maybe the store doesn't have the model you want in stock or they have a limited television inventory.
In this guide, we're going to walk you through some important things to consider when shopping for a new TV either in-store or online.
We'll talk about inventory and brand selection, price matching policies, shipping and delivery options, and even how to best utilize user reviews to choose the best TV for your home.
The number of brands available either in-store or on a retailer's website is important when considering a new TV for your home or dorm. Having a variety of brands gives you a better selection of screen sizes, smart features, and price points. More well-known brands tend to run on the pricier side, while smaller brands are more affordable.
However, while it may be tempting to go for the cheapest option available in order to save money, you may get burned with lackluster warranties and poor customer support.
If you're thinking of springing for the most expensive television, you may be paying for features you don't need and won't use. It's important to consider what you want your new television to do and where you'll have it in your home. Will it be your main television in your living room or home theater? You'll want a decent size screen and plenty of smart features so you can binge-watch your favorite shows and movies. Will it be a secondary TV in your bedroom or kids' playroom?
Have a look at smaller televisions and models without streaming capabilities in order to monitor what your children are watching. Have you ever bought something either in-store or online, only to find the exact same thing at a different place for a better price? Many retailers have some sort of price matching policy; this means that if you find the same television model at one of their competitors for a better price, they'll match it to keep you as a loyal customer.
To take advantage of this, you often need a copy of the sale ad or promotional price to show as proof, and the sale price usually has to be the most recent in order to claim a price match. Price matching can be a great way to save money and get a good deal on a new TV if store loyalty is important to you. It's also great for customers who live in areas where there are only a few retailers; for example, if Walmart is the only big box store near you, but you've found a great TV sale price the Best Buy an hour away, you can take the sale ad to Walmart and still get a good deal.
Not all stores offer this policy though, so it's important to ask an associate or customer service representative beforehand. If you have a smaller vehicle, or can't borrow a van or truck from a friend or family member, you may want to consider buying from a retailer that offers home delivery.
You can ask customer service about having a TV that was purchased in-store delivered to your home; some stores even have staff who will help you set up your new TV and make sure everything works before leaving, making returns easier. This eliminates awkward and dangerous driving with a larvae TV box half hanging out of your trunk. Many retailers now offer site-to-store shipping. This means that you can order a television from the retailer's website and have it shipped to the store for free and for pick-up either the next day or at your convenience.
This is an excellent option for people who live in apartment buildings or are worried about having a high-priced item shipped directly to their home. Shipping to the store for pickup later means that your new TV will be kept safe from theft and damage from bad weather. If you have trouble deciding between brands or models, you can always ask in-store associates for an explanation or advice.
Many stores have dedicated electronics staff who can answer pricing, size, and features questions you may have. They can also explain store returns and exchange policies if you end up with a dud. If you're shopping online, customer reviews are the best place to see if a particular brand or model is worth buying.
But don't just read the 5-star reviews; sometimes reading the 1- and 2-star reviews first can give you an idea of common problems you may encounter with a model. You can also get a feel for how many dead-on-arrival DOA units a manufacturer has let slip into the market; while it's frustrating to get a TV all set up and realize you got a dead unit, unfortunately it happens. Quality Assurance departments work hard to ensure that top-notch, working products reach the hands of customers, but they can't catch every bad unit.
It's also important to focus on negative reviews that talk about the television itself rather than a poor shopping or shipping experience. A broken screen from rough shipping and handling and rude store staff are inconvenient, but these complaints don't give you any indication of how the TV works or malfunctions.
Actively scan device characteristics for identification. Use precise geolocation data. Select personalised content. Create a personalised content profile. Measure ad performance. Select basic ads. Create a personalised ads profile. Select personalised ads. Apply market research to generate audience insights.
Measure content performance. Develop and improve products. List of Partners vendors. Taylor Clemons. While they started out in cameras, for many years they have been authorized to sell deals for many computer and consumer electronics brands. And because of their strong customer service and free national shipping, we thought they were worth mentioning.
They also only charge sales tax in two states, so that may save you some cash, as well. They almost always have some kind of TV sale going on. Also, shipping is free on just about all their TVs, and they have store pick-up in most areas if you need it fast. See the best TV deals from Best Buy. While both these retailers offer good prices on TVs, they come with baggage. Those deals might seem incredibly cheap and hard to pass up but will give you exactly what you pay for in the quality department.
And the higher-end models pretty much will match the same prices everyone else has. Amazon is also more often just matching prices with everyone else rather than offering unbeatable deals. That can make for a very frustrating TV shopping experience. Go big or go home, right? Other features to look for are high dynamic range, aka HDR, which is a technology that widens or refines the gamut of colors you see on your TV. It says if it can't repair it within five days of receiving it, it'll refund the cost of the warranty.
For TVs, it'll "send a repair provider to your house to fix it. For electronics, Target has a day return policy. Though unrelated on the corporate side Sam's is owned by Walmart, for instance , for our purposes they're quite similar. They're warehouse stores where you can get that gallon drum of ketchup and that pallet of bean dip you need for watching football.
They also sell TVs in their, combined, 1,plus stores. Like the other locations we've discussed already, warehouse stores are terrible places to judge TVs. They're far too bright, with harsh overhead lighting.
Usually the boxes for each TV will also be on display, however, so you can at least get some additional info. It'd be better to get the info on your phone, but in a pinch, the box is there with some highlights. On the other hand, to allow enough space below the TVs for the boxes, the TVs themselves are often much higher than you'd normally want to place them, so you're viewing them off-axis, which means some will look worse than they would if you could view them straight on.
TVs bunched up at Costco. Lots of boxes though. Another example from this store is at the top of the page. Costco has a day return policy on TVs. It also offers two years of tech support. Most impressively, it automatically increases the manufacturer's warranty to two years. If you use its credit card, Costco will bump that up an additional two years.
For reference, TVs typically come with one year parts and labor, or in some cases, one year for parts and 90 days for labor. BJ's Wholesale has a day return policy and a lifetime tech support line. It offers Protection Plus extended warranties through Asurion that don't cover "burned-in phosphor in cathode ray tubes or any other type of display. Sam's Club has a day return policy on TVs, a tech support line and it offers SquareTrade warranties that, like other SquareTrade warranties, do not cover burn-in.
Best Buy is basically the last man standing when it comes to major electronics retailers, and it has over 1, stores across the US. Most crucially for our purposes, it often does far more than the others here when it comes to letting you get a sense of how the TV will look.
The TV area is often darker than the rest of the store, and many stores have a Magnolia Home Theater section set off from the rest of the store that will offer even better lighting conditions to view certain TVs. In most cases, high-mounted TVs in either section will be tilted down for better viewing. There are also far more manufacturer-sponsored sections, so you'll see several Samsung , LG or Sony TVs grouped together with additional info about their technologies.
No national retailer offers an ideal viewing area to judge TV picture quality, but Best Buy comes far closer than the alternatives. Unfortunately, you'll only have 15 days to decide if you like the TV before you can't return it. Unless, that is, you're a My Best Buy member , in which case you'll have 30 or 45 for "Elite" members.
TVs in Best Buy's Magnolia store-within-a-store. It's hard to tell from photos, but this area has much lower ambient light than the rest of the store.
There are tech support and extended warranty options, but both cost extra. Both are covered under its Geek Squad banner , and with TVs over 42 inches, it'll come to your house.
0コメント